The YouTube Sword Hanging Over My Head

Many listeners of mine send in requests for particular video topics, and many of these topics I honestly want to pursue, however, I have a sword dangling above my head, placed there by the largest video sharing website on the internet. You see, a bit over a year ago, I published a video that spoke about a particular pathogen and its effect on a particular vital organ of the human body. I thought it was fact-based, but apparently not. The company removed the video and hit me with a warning, a warning that has stayed with me since October 2022. Every time I login to my account, I see this warning. “Channel violations. Active Community Guidelines strikes. Warning.” I guess they’ve done some research on the psychology of this. By dangling a warning over my head, it keeps me in line. And it’s worked to some extent. I tend to avoid certain topics now knowing that at anytime my masters can drop the sword upon me.

For over a year, I had no way to remove this, until recently. Exactly one year later, they offered me an ultimatum. Clicking on the warning, “Your content was removed due to a violation of our Community Guidelines. You’ve received a warning. You can take a policy training which will remove the warning after 90 days.” So basically, take the mandatory training, or forever have this warning looming over your head. I took the training. It was on Medical Misinformation and I passed with flying colours on October 26. Consequently, my warning is due to expire next year, January 24.

I’d like to show you the training, but some of the questions are pretty intense, and I’m worried just by showing you, I’m going to be accused of the very thing that got me here in the first place. But I’ll show you what I can.

“While there are different types of medical misinformation, the one we'll focus on most in your training is V misinformation. The company doesn't allow content that poses a serious risk of egregious harm.” They mention things such as the “World Health Organisation’s guidance”. They talk about “Prevention misinformation, Treatment misinformation, Denial misinformation.” But they also note that “this training includes descriptions of medical misinformation, which could be upsetting or triggering to some people”.

I won’t show you the questions, because I know that’ll get me into trouble. But, I will show you two questions that I created that are similarly structured. You’ll quickly see that you can’t fail this training. The answer is always obvious.

Question 1. Sandra hosts a regular podcast inviting many astronomy experts and aficionados on as guests. One guest starts talking about the Apollo 11 spaceflight and incorrectly states that Buzz Aldrin was the first human to step onto the Moon’s surface. What should Sandra tell her guest? A. “Actually, Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon”. B. “No man has walked on the Moon. The moon landing was fake.” C. “No man has walked on the Moon. The moon is not real. It’s simply a projection.”

Question 2. Serj uploads a video stating that mathematics is subjective and can result in various answers depending on the scenario. He offers one such scenario. (Please select the answer that is most appropriate and that does not spread harmful mathematical misinformation). Billy has thirteen apples, James gives him seven more apples. How many apples does Billy now have? A. 20 apples. B. 34,514 apples. C. Lemon. D. People who eat apples are being tracked by the government by special implants hidden in the core of the apple.

Obviously, even if you are the biggest conspiracy theorist of all time, you could still answer these questions correctly and pass the training. So that begs the question, “What is the point of the training?”. Well I can only conclude that it is not training. It’s more of a game of, “Are you willing to answer these questions correctly?”, or, “Are you willing to pretend that you don’t believe in these conspiracy theories just to pass the training?”. It’s stupid. It’s not training. But here we are in 2023 with one company being the self-proclaimed arbiters of truth. And we just sit here and pretend that that’s okay.

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Allégro by Emmit Fenn